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Introduction

Modern sports floors are specialist solutions which combine protective function i.e. the ability to receive load from motor systems during sports activities and reducing the risk of injury in case of fall, with the spots function which minimises energy consumption of a athlete during sports. Systems including sets of a proper choice of materials, structure and application of technology are usually offered. Most of the solutions are multifunction sports floors intended for sports of more than one discipline, particularly team sports, including handball and volleyball, suitable at the same time for general physical exercise during physical education classes and other sports activities. They are referred to as multi-sports floors. There is a broad range of sports floors currently available. Floors with wooden and synthetic surface, with or without grid are available. Material and structural solutions are critical for the technical and operating properties of individual floor and make them more or less suitable for a given group of users and sports disciplines.

wood ,due to its qualities, has remained one of the materials successfully used in the field of flooring construction ( Cismaru 2006, Csimaru et al. 2015). Over time due to the fact that the wood flooring industry has been constantly changed, researchers concerns have generally been related to improving and optimising the properties of wood used to manufacture wood flooring ( Gasparik and Gaff 2013, Dömény et al, 2018). A special category refers to the wooden floors dedicated to the spaces where sports activities take place. The floors designed to these spaces are special due to their 'behaviour' in response to the athletes movements, when sports activities are xassried out on their surface ( Cismaru et al, 2015). The specialists' concern in the field of sports flooring is to optimise the structures of the floors in terms of their flexibility and rigidity and reduce the unevenness of the support layer in order to obtain flat surfaces. Also through an optimal balance between the rigidity and flexibility and to reduce the unevenness of the support layer in order to obtain flat surfaces. Also, through an optimal balance between the rigidity and flexibility of these structures, the aim is in fact to reduce extra effort from the athletes side to avoid any risk for them to suffer injury or accidents during the sporting activities. This is the main reason that the specialist in the field have focused on the support structures of the sports floors, developing a wide variety structures, starting from the traditional systems to the most innovative ones, taking in to account both possibilities and performance levels aimed for the sports activities carried out upon them.

Even if many innovative materials have appeared in recent years, wooden floors for sports hall such as basketball, squash or dance are proffered due to the fact that in these sports the elasticity of the floor has to be extended on large areas, and not punctual, as provided by rubber floors.

Material and Structural solutions

One of the main criteria for choosing sports is the surface type. Wooden surfaces are made of solid flooring elements. Laminated boards for sports facilities differ from standard products primarily in the specific properties of the surface. These include sufficient friction, wear and rolling load resistance. Some laminated boards also feature special joining profiles. Solid flooring components used in the sports flooring industry are usually standard slats, however they require finishing with varnish dedicated to sports facilities.

The most common synthetic products are rolled or poured floor coverings. Rolled, PVC or linoleum covering can be single layer or composite products with an elastic (e.g. Polyurethane foam) sheet. Multilayer poured systems include filler, polyurethane screed and polyurethane varnish. They are applied directly on a rigid substrate e.g. wood based products e.g. LVL.

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Under the joints a set of pads is placed, including wooden spacers and elastic polyurethane foam pads or SBR recycled granules. The thickness of the spaces is 16-19mm and of the resilient one 5-12mm. Their length and width is 50-100mm. Te pads are placed in 400- 500mm centres. In floors with cross grids, they are placed at the intersection of the joist lattice or in the middle of the distance between them. Sets of pads are fixed to grids with 35-38mm long staples. In case of small irregularities of the substrate, levelling pad or wedges are also used e.g. PVC.

A sheathing of wood based boards ( e.g. Paritlce boards P5 or OSB-3, 10 or 12mm thick) is often placed on the grid and fixed with screws to the joists. The sheathing can be single layered or two layered. Both wooden and synthetic surface can be made into sheathing.

In some systems, incomplete grid is used, so called "blind floor", on which the sheathing is placed or wooden surface is directly mounted. They are made of e.g. 19 x 95 mm boards in 120 - 175mm centres. Solutions are also known in which a surface of laminated boards is placed directly on the grid. Floor without grid are installed directly on concrete substrate. The most common solution include synthetic floors, either poured or rolled on a layer of shock absorbing matt. Much less common are floors with the wood based board structure, usually plywood placed in shock absorbing Matt. Standard synthetic surface is spread on the plywood.

Classification

Sports floors are classified for performance under load, shock absorption, vertical deformation and reaction to fire. In view of the behaviour under load, area elastic (MJ), point elastic (P), combined elastic (K) and mixed elastic (Ms) floor categories can be listed. In the MJ type flors, after application of concentrated force around the application point flexure area with ca. 500 mm radius is formed, referred to as the deformation trough (Fig. 1a.) such floors have relatively hard surfaces and are quite inert to reaction, but react well in case of falls with multi plane load ( whole body) efficiently protecting the athlete. In P type floors, the radius around the flexure point area around the force application point at around 100mm. With relatively soft, deformable surface, the floors react quickly at relatively low load. They provide good protection when hit by e.g. elbow or knee, but are less effective in case of whole body fall. Transport of loads on its surface can be difficult. K type floors combine the advantages of the surface and point resilient floors. After application of concentrated force they deform both in a radius of 100mm and 500mm. Mixed elastic floors are close to point elastic ones, but they also comprise a synthetic component for local rigidity, which makes them both soft and resistant enough to e.g. rolling load and similar effects. The flexure are in the Ms floors has the radius between 100 and 500mm. Depending on the the shock absorption and vertical deformation, four types of sports floors are distinguished. the difference in these floors focus on the presentation of the floors themselves and their ability to handle load deformation to varying degrees of success.

Innovation within this sector

innovation within the sports flooring market has focused up to this point on the facilitation of the usage of one floor in a variety of contexts. such innovation has been sought through the implementation of a variety of materials and solutions. These solutions varying from the use of LED line to create differing game line required for the playing of different sports to the introduction of different materials to reduce the damage taken by players should a injury incident occur or a incident occur that is likely to cause injury. The implementation of such solutions varies across differing sectors and different solution with material varying from the introduction of advanced polymer solutions to less conventional glass supported by a aluminium substructure solution. All of these seeking to replace the now considered outdated traditional wooden solutions where lines have to permanently painted onto the surface itself. implementation within such contexts means that innovation within the market itself is moving fast however the market itself exhibits a cautious approach to the often starkly different solutions presented. Wide ranging market embrace will be very necessary for the introduction off these solutions into the permanent market. As of yet their implementation remains sparse however it is foreseeable that this may change in the future.

Studies have shown that the introduction of artificial floors has meant that a decrease in the friction presented can lead to the increasing of traumatic injury during the course of a season. This due to the change in the interaction between the players namely the reduction in the friction generated with their interaction. such interaction can sometimes be understood to be beneficial to the players however if it becomes to great then it can result in issues. The implementation of a new surface where the new surfaces do not focus upon the changing of this dynamic where not only do the properties innovative system surpass that of the previous solution but also do so in a way that does not have negative impact to the players as seen in some of the previous innovative solutions. Whether such innovations will and can provide that which they seek depends on the innovation itself and further to this denotes the effectiveness of such innovation.

It should also be further noted that solutions should not seek to innovate to fast and solve a abundance of issues with too much pace, it is necessary that one issue be fixed at one time as to avoid the generation of new issues and the missing of the mark in terms of solving that which they originally sought to solve.